At the recent Tamworth Community Cabinet meeting a family friend of a Gunnedah owned mill stood up to ask the Environment minister Robyn Parker a question, he wanted to know if the NSW Government would be opening up more viable timber to the industry as had been promised.

About two weeks ago the Tamworth Regional Council wrote to the Minister asking the same question.

The Nationals MP for Tamworth, Kevin Anderson has also been looking into the issue,

"Back in 2005 some 350,000 hectares of state forest was transferred to community conservation areas, what that did was drastically reduce the amount of timber for that industry, and we are now in a situation where those sizeable logs for Gunnedah Timbers are running out and we have been working with the Department of Primary Industries, and Environment and Heritage to try and find a solution.

"It's going to need an Act of Parliament to get those community conservation areas changed back to state forest (state wide) ..

Mr Anderson said there is a short term solution that is being worked on,

"State Forest has agreed to allow the Gunnedah company access to larger logs, but there is a problem with the EPA because it has found a striped wallaby in there ... "

He said stage two is to look at a larger solution,

"Which is the land swap 18,000 hectares of community conservation area for 70,000 hectares of state forest, if we can do that land swap, then that allows the Pauls to have larger logs.

"On top of that we have got the National Resources Commission to look at holding an independent study, to see what the benefit was of locking it up, how it is tracking now and whether there is the potential for a viable logging industry."

He said he is hoping the study will be approved in a few weeks and then completed by March or April next year.